Taking A Break In Langkawi

Took the kids on a short 4 day-3 night trip to Langkawi. Hubby was busy the last few weeks so I had the task of finding suitable accomodation. I looked up the internet and found this little motel at Pantai Chenang called White Lodge Chalet which was within our budget of below RM200 per night. Nothing fancy, but comfortable and clean.

the entrance of White Lodge

the porch of our chalet

Left on Monday morning at around 7 am to fetch hubby's sister who was coming along with us. It's a 6-hour drive from KL to the jetty at Kuala Kedah. Reached the jetty at 2pm after a few toilet stops and a quick lunch at KFC in Autocity, Butterworth. Couldn't get tickets for the 2.30pm ferry so we had to wait till 3.30pm for the next ferry to Langkawi :(

our ferry arriving

Ferry ride was an hour and a half, our ferry left only at 4pm and we finally reached Langkawi island at 5.30pm. Had already arranged for a rented car a few days before the trip so we met up with Kapten Rosli, who is a friend of a friend of a friend. We had booked a Proton Saga but was given a Kia Rio instead because the holidaymaker who had used the Proton Saga broke the steering wheel....strange things people do! He charged us RM90 a day, which was really cheap since most car rental companies I looked up on the internet charged around RM150 during the school holiday season. 

 zooming around in our little rented car

Was glad we stayed at Pantai Chenang because according to the locals, it is the most happening place at night...something like the night market at Penang's Batu Ferringhi. Had dinner and walked around, CoolTeen managed to buy some interesting T-shirts and hubby bought a nice white linen shirt for Chinese New Year.

The next morning we got up early and visited the Langkawi Cable Car which was about 30 minutes' drive away. We reached there at 9am but there were already people queueing up at the ticket counter, which opens at 10am. I really dislike cable car rides and this one is really scary because of the very steep incline, but the view from the top of the hill made up for it...a cool and very windy place, sometimes the gust of wind is so strong that you feel you might be blown off the viewing platform!

cable cars...my most un-favourite form of transportation!

The shops at the foot of the hill have a variety of clothes, bags and souvenirs at quite reasonable prices. Nice place.

After lunch we headed for the Langkawi Wildlife Park and the kids were complaining about why we needed to go see animals but changed their minds the moment we stepped into the enclosure. Most of the animals were left free to roam about and we could really see them up close or even touch them. Had some fun feeding the deers and rabbits. The duty-free shop there had some of the lowest prices of chocolates compared to other duty-free shops in Kuah town.

Had dinner at Pantai Chenang and walked the night market as the stretch of road is quite long and we didn't manage the cover all the shops last night. Picked up some souvenirs.

Day 3, the kids wanted to ride the go-karts at Morac International Karting near the airport. It's RM37 per person for 10 minutes. CoolTeen and PreTeen had lots of fun, their dad's wallet felt lighter.

Then we walked around Kuah Town and realised that the prices of goods are not that cheap after all, even though it's supposed to be a duty-free zone. Things like perfume we can get back in KL for almost the same price.


things that are cheap in Langkawi

Went to the Underwater World and spent about an hour there. Some of the fishes there are really huge and there are a lot of species on display. It's a lot more spacious than the Aquaria in KL, and benches are provided here and there for people to take a rest and enjoy the undersea creatures. Nice.

the penguins were like those from the movie "Happy feet"

The widely advertised Wednesday night market at Kuah town was a real disappointment. We could walk the entire pasar malam in 5 minutes and things are really pricey there, probably because it mainly caters for tourists...but the tourists are smart too, they go to the night market at Pantai Chenang where things are cheaper and of better quality!

Day 4, checked out of the motel early at 10am and headed for the jetty where we returned the car, and thought we could do some shopping at the supposedly duty-free shops there but found that things are really expensive compared to the rest of the shops in Langkawi...and the toilets are in poor condition although we pay 30 sen, compared to the ones at the Kuala Kedah jetty which were clean...and free.

Boarded the ferry at 11.30am, reached Kuala Kedah at around 1pm and headed for home. Had a relaxing time in Langkawi where the pace of life is so much slower and driving around is quite easy. Hubby was disappointed we couldn't walk the curved suspension bridge at the cable car place because it was closed due to strong winds, but I was happy I got to step on the famous black beach. Next time we will go island-hopping instead!

Pantai Pasir Hitam - black beach